The Fourth Relevant Truth
by Moonraker One
Summary: Alternate Universe. What if fate had been written differently, and Crono had grown up as an Earthbound in Zeal Kingdom? How would he survive?
1. Just Another Faceless Earthbound One

The Fourth Relevant Truth

By Moonraker One

"There are four relevant truths, that make up most of the universe; the first three are the most well-known. They are Life, Time, and Reason. However, it is the fourth one that is the most important: Existence. Without it, none of the other three would be real. Thus, from this day forward, the wisest and greatest four among this new kingdom which bears my name will be known as the Gurus of the truths they represent. The Guru of Life shall be a master of weapon forgery and other artifacts which regard the living, the Guru of Time shall be the most skilled in his wisdom of the various time streams that connect our kingdom, the Guru of Reason shall be the wisest scientific mind in our kingdom, and he or she will assist the other Gurus at their various tasks. Ah! But it is the Guru of Existence that shall have the most important task! He or she shall be the one who is most skilled at and wise about wielding magic, and shall be a master swordsperson. It shall be that person that makes magic flourish within our people!"

- The words of King Zeal the first,  
at the founding of the Zeal Kingdom,  
circa 14,000 B.C.

Author's Note: Crono has no last name, or at least in the game he doesn't. I'm making one up.

CHAPTER ONE - Just Another Faceless Earthbound One

KLANG.  
The sound of swords colliding with each other echoed through the chamber as two young men tried to get the other off guard so as to deliver the final blow of the match. For a certain teenager by the name of Crono, this day would have to be the most important of his thus far. Just his presence here, in Queen Zeal's gymnasium, sparring against one of his friends, was cause for amazement. As it was, Crono had been born into a family that didn't have the ability to use magic, and thus they were considered "earthbound," which simply meant they were not allowed entry into the mighty kingdom of Zeal. His mother had told him that there was simply nothing that could be done about their position in society, but he himself had never bought into that concept. He performed exceptionally well in school, earning high A's in all of his classes, doing so well in fact that he went to high school two years earlier than any of his fellow students. It was after grade school that his abilities caught the attention of the E.E.S., or "Exceptional Earthbound Students" program, a education program set up by the queen of Zeal herself, to gather the most brilliant minds from the planet below in order to tap their maximum potential. He'd gone to high school in the Kingdom of Zeal, and once again excelled at everything he did. Now, he was giving a hard time to a friend of his, whom always got angry whenever outperformed at swordplay.

"Dalton," Queen Zeal asked of her most trusted servant, "tell me more about that kid, Crono. He seems…more brilliant than that friend of his. I don't understand, _he's_ just an Earthbound, compared to his sparring partner who is an Enlightened one."

Dalton lifted his information packet and began to rattle off information. "Name, Crono Tekoris," he said monotonously. "It says he's always gotten the best grades possible. His freshman year he took physics, the required magic course," Dalton's eyes widened at the information after that. He pulled his paper closer to make sure he wasn't misreading it. "It says here that he actually made a breakthrough of such magnitude in magic that halfway through the course, he was automatically given a passing grade." Queen Zeal tore the paper from his hand, almost ripping it. She could scarcely believe what she was seeing; _he_ was the child that wrote a seventy-page _published_ dissertation about the origins and history of magic at the age of sixteen?!

"I'm gonna beat you THIS time, Crono!" Crono's sparring partner shouted.

"Kafta, you've never come close to beating me, and too much is at stake here!" he replied.

Crono saw an opening in his partner's attack pattern that only a veteran knight would see, and thus he took it. He brought his sword up to meet Kafta's above the boy's head, then spun around with speed that most knights would be jealous of, and held his arm out, so that from shoulder to tip of blade was a straight line. He stopped his spin when the blade was an inch short of his friend's neck. Crono grinned as he touched the dull side of his sword to his friend's neck. "Had I been attacking you, you'd be dead already," Crono explained. "You know a triple alpha attack pattern is very hard to counter, _except_ when your opponent has speed exceeding yours. That exception would have been your downfall if I was anyone else."

Kafta fell to a seated position after sheathing his blade. Defeated again? How is it that an ordinary Earthbound teen could best an Enlightened one at swordsmanship? How could he, who had taken numerous swordsmanship classes over his school career, lose to a teen who had the better part of his education with the common folk of the planet? "One of these days, Crono, I'm gonna get you." To this his punk-haired friend only smiled.

"Not if I get you first," he replied. The referee overseeing the match that just occurred, scrawled a lifeless X over Kafta's name, indicating that the boy had lost the match. He then declared that the Zeal Annual Swordsmanship Tournament had come to a close, and that Crono had won overall. In his division, the punk-haired teen had wiped the floor with several swordsmen and women, some of which were seniors in high school, years older than him.

As Crono left the main area of the arena/gymnasium, he was greeted at the door leading out into the open area of Zeal Kingdom by Dalton the bodyguard, and surprisingly, the queen herself. "Crono Tekoris?" she began, making sure she'd gotten the name correctly. He bowed immediately without saying a word before his liege. She smiled and waved for him to stand up, which he promptly did. "I'm rather impressed by your skill with a sword. I'm wondering; how is it that at you, a teen of Earthbound family is able to best some of the mightiest soldiers of the kingdom at the blade?"

He felt mildly offended at the insulting of his person merely due to his origin, but didn't speak out, for Dalton's imposing physical presence was one for mild concern. He merely shrugged. "I've been training since my sixth birthday when I got my first hand-made bokuto," he admitted, patting the wooden sword he carried for training. Tournaments used metal swords but he could still best a soldier with merely his bokuto. "If you think I'm good at _swordsmanship_, I dare say," he caught her giving him an impressed look, "I do believe I have a bit of talent in the field of magic."

"That's what I want to ask you a bit more about, dear citizen," Queen Zeal interjected. "How is it that last year, your sophomore year in high school, you were able to finalize your second edition of the most widely-accepted theory about the origins and history of magic, that any human being has ever seen?" Crono leaned in towards his queen, as if what he was whispering was top secret information. Dalton grasped his sword, but waited in case he wasn't hostile.

"Meditation," Crono merely stated. "Any secret you want to know, meditate and it'll come to you." He prepared to step out into the immediate courtyard of the arena, to greet his family members with the good news of his victory, when the Queen pulled him closer.

"I'm very pleased to tell you that I'm allowing you to take part in the Royal Trials!" she announced, causing him to halt midstep. He'd been training all month long in order to win the annual swordsmanship tournament, just so that he could have enough of a reputation built up as a sword fighter to apply for the Royal Trials. If he had enough of a reputation as a swordsman, he could easily have a sufficient cause to apply, and none gave him the status he wanted than the tournament he'd just won. The Royal Trials were open to anyone who could put a reasonable answer in the "skills significant to Zeal Kingdom" line of the application, which had every Earthbound kid allowed to get educated in the magical kingdom working their butts off. Now that he had the queen's permission, he could just show up and take part. However, to make sure, he questioned her will.

"Are you sure?" he said, making himself seem smaller than he was. "I mean, there're lots of Enlightened Ones my age that would _kill_ for the same privilege." She waved her hand through the air as though it were a trivial matter, and he was speaking heresy.

"Oh, don't worry, Crono," she reassured him. "I'll have Dalton send word to the officiates that you'll be taking part." He became as giddy as a school child; Dalton didn't. The royal trials were where the best minds, regardless of origin, were brought before a judge and all their talents and weaknesses noted, and after that was done they were given an assignment in the Zeal Kingdom that was financed by the Zeal Treasury. These were big-name projects that enhanced the wealth and power of the very kingdom itself, thus it was a distinct honor to be given a very unique position by the judges. Each job, even if you were assigned to be a foot worker, had more honor (and pay) than a job attained on your own. However, there were some jobs that were given only to the absolute most special. Among these were the queen's private task force, a police-like squad of officers that served matters involving the royal family, bodyguard positions like Dalton's, and the most prestigious of all: being assigned a Guru position. Crono _knew_ in his heart that he'd never in a million years be assigned to a Guru position, but he believed he had the skill—at least, the knowledge—to be a darn fine soldier. He believed that even if he was assigned to the lowest rank of base knight, he could work his way up to general in just a decade's time. A dangerous job also meant hazardous duty pay—an extra few hundred gold coins per week—which would provide enough so that his family would NEVER go hungry again. He'd achieve this or die trying. He never wanted to see his mother eat toothpaste again due to lack of money.

"Crono honey? How'd you do…oh my!" Crono's mother, rapidly approaching her son standing just outside the doorway, saw the queen standing next to her son and bowed immediately. "Queen Zeal, your highness!

"Stand up, Earthbound One," Zeal said in a friendly manner. "You must be proud of your son; he just won the tournament!" Jina almost fainted at the news that her son Crono had won the tournament she believed he didn't have much of a chance in against older boys and girls of Enlightened origin. She waved toward the queen as though such were no serious matter. She acted this way in the queen's presence for the mere reason that the queen was the queen; had Zeal been any ordinary member of the kingdom society, Jina would be bragging her head off. She wanted to leap, sing, dance and shout but restrained herself in Zeal's presence.

"Oh, I always wondered how he'd turn up, what with his constant sword training!" Jina stated. "I mean, he always speaks of a 'triple alpha stance' this and a 'bi-level sigma strike' that…sometimes I just want to scream, but I'm glad its amounted to something."

"Oh, quit being modest…" she looked to her bodyguard, towering above her.

"Jina Tekoris," whispered Dalton.

"Quit being modest…Jina!" she found it slightly difficult to be calling an ordinary Earthbound woman by her first name, but as a queen, she recalled, she could dance around dressed in a turkey suit and she had to care of no one's opinion. "In fact, I'm _so_ impressed with his work in swordsmanship and magic that I've decided to give him honorary permission to partake in the Royal Trials!" It was at this statement that Jina wanted to throw herself at the feet of the queen and grovel out of thankfulness. However, maintaining her composure, she simply smiled.

"Oh, that's WONDERFUL!" she said, hugging her son embarrassingly. "I'm just so glad he's finally getting recognized!"

"Well, see you later in the Royal Trials, Crono!" Zeal cried as she walked toward the main chamber in the palace. Dalton walked lockstep with her, casting glances at anyone who dared take an ill-advised look at the queen. Jina turned to her son with a look of pride that she hadn't expressed in quite a bit.

"Crono!" she shouted. "I can't believe it! You, going into the Royal Trials! A week from today, you'll be given a position in Zeal Kingdom's society, and you'll be making the money we've always dreamed of making! We'll be accepted into a populace we've never been with, and best of all," she yanked her son closer to her with a tight hug, "we'll never go hungry again!" Jina began to cry as she stared into the teenage eyes of her son. He was seventeen; that age in your teen years where you should be preparing for college in the hardest of ways. That age where life is a miraculous thing that never seemed to have an end in sight, where if you had the right things you could ostensibly live eternally in your seventy or eighty years of living. Crono and his mother, however, had never had such a luxury of being born of Enlightened origin. True, Crono himself had possessed the skill—with massive talent—but he'd never been eighteen, which was an Earthbound's requirement to apply for a status change for his family. His mother Jina had never been able to even sense magical energy, so she'd never have passed the status change examination. As Crono headed to a party with several of his friends (Earthbound and Enlightened alike), his mother headed to her temporary home in the Zeal Project Housings, a not-half-bad two bedroom apartment where she'd be until her son's participation in the Royal Trials ended. He drank punch and ate cake with his fellow participants, but really he couldn't bear the thought of how he'd be placed by the judge. Shaking his head, he realized that such worry would be pointless, that whatever god reigned from heaven had already mapped out the conclusion of the trials. The week seemed to be decades away.

Instead, it passed in the blink of an eye, barely giving Crono time to prepare. He'd been going to school during the time frame as he'd always done, he was getting the best of his possible grades just missing a perfect hundred percent on his last test by getting half a point less on a single problem. His drive and determination were the envy of all the students wishing to participate in the Royal Trials, for he had such talent, they reasoned, he squeaked by admission by getting personal permission by the queen. It was a nightmare for many other kids his age, for they had until two mornings before the actual event to register. It normally was only a matter of a few hours before they got their final word back in the mail from the official admission committee. After completing his last course of the day at the high school, he walked home, proudly examining his wooden bokuto, which he still kept around for sentimental purposes. It was a weapon that he'd sharpened to such fine quality in the sword-sharpening shop of his friend Kafta's dad, that many metal swords couldn't cut as well as it. Because it was wood, and dulled far quicker, he refrained from using it, although, he noticed, it could probably halve a human hair more than six times. He used it for a tool more than a weapon, for it possessed a great deal of magical energy; it was made by Melchior, Guru of Life. The old man had cut it from a thousand year-old tree and polished it numerous times with holy water, so it naturally acted like a magical energy magnet, sucking magic energy out of the ambient air and allowing Crono to more perfectly focus his powers.

"Crono!" Jina cried, lifting a piece of paper for him to see. "The queen's notice has come in! Your participation in the Trials are guaranteed, your position is number fourteen!" He practically yanked it from her hand, examining the "official" wordings the committee used with tender care. After reading it, he leaned forward and took his mother in a love embrace. "Oh, dear! I can't BELIEVE how gifted you are!"

"Mom," he said, wiping a tear from her eyes. "God has given me more than I could ever ask for, and I hope to give you something back when I start making my first paycheck." She offered him his favorite sandwich, and he ate only a small half of it, deciding afterward to retire to his room for the evening. He stared at the swords on the wall that his father had used during his days as a swordsman. _Oh, father,_ he thought, looking at the last photo of his departed dad taken before the final death strike dealt to him during his final tournament. _I wish you could be here to see this day._ He put the picture down, wiped a tear of his own, and fell backwards onto his bed. Blissful slumber should have come, but it didn't.

He shook his head. _Can't sleep_, he thought. For hours to come, he tried his best and even took a glass of warm milk. Tomorrow would be the moment of truth, and he couldn't bear to think of what would happen if he was one of the five that, each year, was not chosen and had to return to their homes, broken hearted. Out of hundreds, he reasoned, attempting to set himself at ease, _I have a five out of a lot chance of not getting assigned, so I'm in good shape_. He attempted to calm down, but he couldn't bear the weight sitting on his heart. He wanted so badly to provide the best for his downtrodden mother, who'd for years taken a lot of abuse during her visits to her sickly husband who was treated in a Zeal hospital until his death. The other women would gossip, wondering how an Enlightened man could take an ordinary, Earthbound wife. They didn't recall that Kairo Tekoris was born Earthbound and became a soldier in the queen's army, nor did they remember that he was one of the best in the kingdom. All they saw was his wife, garbed in normal Earthbound animal hide, visiting him in the hospital after the terrible conspiracy on his life. He wanted so badly to laugh in the faces of those women. He knew if he was given a soldier's position, and made it to a commissioned officer, he'd have made more money in one year than the servant women whose only task was to aide the queen, made in twenty. His dad, being so popular as one of the best soldiers in the queen's army (after only a year, he was made a general), suffered from a poison dealt to him by his opponent in the royal tournament who'd coated his sword with a deadly chemical before the match. When he ran Kairo through with it, it only took a few minutes to put him in a permanent deathly state. The four had hoped it would kill him quickly, but he struggled with it for six years, making him a martyr, and his wife a hero for putting up with abuse from locals.

Sure enough, as he'd predicted, his best friend the morning that followed was his cup of coffee. He entered the main door of the auditorium, showing his paperwork at the door and entering, taking his seat in the second row, seat fourteen. The queen moved to her podium on stage, and began her speech. _This is it,_ many of them thought. _this is the moment I've waited for all my life_.

"Dear young ones of the Zeal Kingdom and otherwise," she began. "This day marks a special occasion. It is today, that many of you will be assigned a specific job. These jobs are the envy of a lot of people, so take them seriously and you will never have to worry. Today, Earthbound children who've known only hardship all your lives will be given a chance to prove yourselves in the Zeal work force, some of you magic teachers, some of you soldiers, others of you other jobs. Regardless, today, your mere presence proves that you are all special. Today, set aside your differences of Earthbound and Enlightened, and recall that you each are unique. Judges, begin your judgment of these fine young people!" The judges stepped forth, the oldest announcing and the ones behind him handing out paperwork describing their careful assessment of the kids' talents.

"Number one, Kafta Lekronda," Crono looked at his best friend, proudly standing like a Greek God waiting for his answer. "You have been assigned to the position of…" the crowd virtually stood in edge, "…battlefield medic!" The punk-haired warrior cringed; this was not a job he would personally enjoy doing, for he hated the sight of blood, but smiled and wished his friend the best of luck. When he thought about it, he sat confused; since when did Kafta know a thing about medicine?

One by one, the judge announced each and every person until the girl sitting next to Crono stood up. "Number thirteen, Eliza Naakva," he surveyed the girl's blonde curls, seemingly impressed, "you have been assigned to the position of…apprentice to Guru Gaspar!" Crono was taken aback by this; it was quite an honor indeed to be assigned to a Guru's army-like bunch of apprentices. He clapped and put his hand on her shoulder once she returned to her seat, giving her a verbal wish of luck. He stood tense as a bird as the judge looked at his paper.

"Number…fifteen," he stammered. Crono's jaw dropped; _he'd been skipped_! The judge had looked at his paper, perfectly aware of himself, and _skipped him!_ He bowed his head, simply in shock at the turn of events. His world had just been crushed. He blocked out all other sounds except the fast beating of his confused heart; how could _he_, who'd been personally told by the queen how special he was, be skipped, when he was one of the best? Breathing came difficult as he waited for all the people to be named. Once they'd all gone up and then returned to their seats, the judge put down his pamphlet and addressed the audience. "This year," the judge calmly stated, "there was one person in this audience who had been skipped." When the judge looked at him, Crono felt as if invisible daggers were penetrating him.

"Crono Tekoris," the judge said, gathering his breath and his courage, "you have NOT been assigned."

Crono fell backwards in his seat; he could have died just at that moment from the let-down.

"Instead, you have been _chosen_," the judge stated. He motioned for the boy to come to the stage. The word "chosen" had been used; what did that mean, Crono wondered? Nevertheless, he did as requested and left his seat, walking unhappily to the stage. The judge put an arm around Crono's shoulder, and turned to the audience. With a broad grin, he pulled the microphone closer.

"I present to you all," he shouted, then hesitated, building up pressure in the room. The silent moment made the tension unbelievably thick. "I present to you all, Crono Tekoris, our new Guru of Existence!" Crono stood with a confused look on his face, with a mouth hanging wide open. Had he really just heard correctly.

"Say that again," Crono requested. The queen approached from behind.

"You are the new…Guru of Existence!" she reminded him. He fainted, falling forward off the stage into his mother's grip.


	2. Pride of the Zeal Kingdom

The Fourth Relevant Truth

By Moonraker One

CHAPTER TWO - Pride of the Zeal Kingdom

The morning came with a sense of pride as Crono awoke with a startle from his alarm clock's incessant beeping. Climbing (almost falling, actually) out of bed, he shook the sleep from his face and stumbled towards the bathroom of his new living quarters. Each guru had the distinct honor of being awarded their very own dome-like house on the main floating island of Zeal Kingdom, so he and his mother were going to get used to it. Once he could see clearly enough, he stepped into the shower (the concept of bathing while standing up was new for someone like him), and twisted the knob. At first, the temperature of the water almost burned him, but he managed to get it right the second time. With his cloth he washed every important part of himself, and then his spiky hair. Few Enlightened ones understood why he had spiky reddish-orange hair—most Earthbound ones had brown or black hair, sometimes even blonde, and most Enlightened had either blue or a shade of it, and thus it made him feel special to wash it. He finished after that and stepped out of the shower after turning it off. Finally, he dried off and went into his living room to gather his notes for the day.

He had a lecture to give, on the history of magic as best he knew it, and it had taken him a whole afternoon to plan out and write his notes. This would be his first day giving a lecture as the new Guru of Existence of Zeal Kingdom. While he had his head cocked to the right to read his notes, he began to get dressed, starting with the basics. Over his underwear he slipped on a pine green coverall, which definitely lived up to its name. His outfit was not one that most Enlightened ones wore, but then again, he wasn't like most of them; he was special, and as a Guru, he could wear what he pleased. His new outfit he'd designed and drawn himself, and the queen's best tailor made the outfit. It was a drastic improvement over his animal hide outfits his mom had made him while she lived down Earth-side. Next, he pulled over the coverall a pair of off-white breeches, that seemed slightly baggy but did their job. He rolled up the pants' legs up at the bottom in case he had to go down Earth-side. The final aspects of his wardrobe were a light blue tunic, a belt that pulled the tunic in close to his waistline, a yellow scarf around his neck, and finally, a white bandana. To his right hip he attached his sheath with wooden bokuto in it, and gathered his notes to go.

He opened the door just before a friend of his would have rung his doorbell. "Kafta!" Crono cheerfully said. "What're you doing here?" Kafta playfully tapped him on the shoulder with his fist.

"I'm just here to see how you're doing, 'Guru Crono,'" he joked. Smiling he noticed the bundle of papers in his friend's grip. "What's that for?"

"One of the first things I gotta do," he explained to Kafta, "is that, as Guru, I have to explain my theory about the origins of magic. If you wanna spar later on, I _think_ I've got some free time after three."

Kafta chuckled. "You _think_ you have free time?" Crono mutually laughed at the concept of being busy.

"Look, Kafta, I gotta go, but let's catch up later!" Kafta shook his head; his friend was indeed something else.

It was a short, six minute walk up the hill and through a few teleport caves until Crono made it to the auditorium part of Zeal Palace, where several of Dalton's men were waiting to show him to the stage. Inside, he gathered his papers and looked up to the queen, sitting in the VIP box alongside her main bodyguard, the imposing Dalton himself. Crono didn't trust the man, but never fully could understand why. Dalton was a big man up close—six foot five from feet to top of head—but it wasn't merely his physical presence that seemed mistrustful, it was the way he could never fully read what he thought the man was thinking, as he could with some other people. He brushed such thoughts aside as he took the main stage and aligned his papers on the podium. All the crowd stared at him, eager to find out what their new guru had to say, and they all had their own ways by which they were going to judge his performance here. It didn't affect Crono like he thought it would; stage fright was something he'd never experienced. He cleared his throat with a light cough and looked into the audience.

"Ahem," he began. "Well, hello, you may know me as Crono Tekoris, your Guru of Existence." He glanced down at his notes, but only for an instant. "Many of you have read my first and second published theses on the origin of magic, and here I am to give you my third revision of the theory of magic's origin. What aspect of its beginnings shall I start with?" He looked to an official sitting in the front.

"Master Guru," the man regarded Crono, "we would like you to address your theory that magic did not truly 'begin.'"

Crono nodded. "Ah," he continued. "After about four years of doing experiments and studying magical energy, I have come to the conclusion that when someone says magic had its origins with the first Zealites, they are mistaken. Magical energy is an illogical, irrational energy, and thus, it has had no beginnings." One man interrupted him by raising his hand. "Yes, sir?"

"Um, pardon the interruption, Master Guru," he asked, "but what do you mean by 'illogical' and irrational?'"

"Well, illogical refers to the fact that the logical scientific rules of energy do not necessarily apply to magical energy. For example, the Law of Conservation of Energy states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction or otherwise. While it is true that Magical energy cannot ever be destroyed, it can create other forms of energy from nothing." Another man raised his hand at this point.

"Example, please, Master Guru?" he requested.

Crono tilted his head left and right, taking only a moment to think of one. "Let's say that a magical fire spell generates a fire. What took place was a transformation from innate magical energy to magical fire energy. That fire generates heat energy, but that heat energy is not magical energy. Thus, the ordinary heat energy is being generated from nothing as a byproduct of the fire spell." The first man raised his hand again.

"Master Guru," he requested, "what does 'irrational' in terms of magical energy, mean?"

"Irrational merely means that it cannot be detected by electronic equipment. Are there any questions thus far?" Crono looked from left to right in search of a raised hand. "Moving along then, it is only reasonable to assume that magical energy has always existed. When someone says, 'Zeal was the beginning of Magic,' they are not wrong, but they aren't completely right, either. A corrected, complete version of this statement would be, 'Zeal was the beginning of magic…_in human beings_.'" He stressed the point to add spoken effect. "You see, it is my theory that past cultures existed without magical ability, merely because their souls and minds were not potent enough to transform innate magical energy into physical forms of energy. Thus, they had no kataga." He knew someone would raise their hand with a question, and sure enough, someone did.

"Excuse me, Master Guru," the man inquired, "what is 'kataga?'"

Crono cleared his throat again. "Kataga, named after the first Zealite to be capable of manipulating magic some two thousand years ago, is a measure of how much magical energy you are capable of utilizing at any given moment. Your 'Maximum Kataga,' is a value given to the maximum amount of magical energy you can utilize, ever. This value is predetermined at birth, and cannot change during the course of your natural life. You can never exceed the Maximum Kataga value your soul assigned you at birth."

"Then how," the man continued, "do we hear of people going far beyond that point and still living?"

"Well, they undergo a special type of training called death training." That statement alone shut up most of the audience that was engaged in small chat with nearby spectators. Most of those paying strict attention to Crono sat confused, almost afraid to ask what it meant to be "death training." A full twenty seconds of unbearable silence passed before anything happened.

Finally, a woman in the front row asked, "What is this 'death training?'" Crono had waited for that question.

"Death training is a type of training that one undergoes to raise their maximum Kataga." He'd done this particular type of training on more than one occasion, so he knew more than his fair share about it. Each time he'd do it, it would be a very taxing experience, yet the result was worth the pain. "For this training, one must put themselves into a death-like trance, and summon all the magical power they possess. At first, the result is merely an intense amount of pain. If done correctly, though, the person undergoing the training will raise their maximum Kataga by a significant amount. Any more questions?"

The crowd remained silent, which came as good news to Crono, who had grown slightly impatient with their constant interrupting of his carefully planned speech with questions. He waited an extra minute to ensure that no one had anything to ask, and then continued with his lecture. "I have, by means of experimentation and data gathering, come to the conclusion that in order for one to have magical power, their mind must be potent enough to transform innate magical energy—which is magical energy's primary state—into a useful form of energy. If one cannot do this, they cannot utilize magic spells. Are there any further topics that any of you would like me to cover?" He scanned left and right, and even up in the VIP boxes, with no one raising their hand at first. Then, on his second glance around, he saw Queen Zeal herself shyly raise her hand, as though she were causing blasphemy by interrupting his speech. He found her shyness confusing, for she was the queen, and normally she was not one to hesitate to show her emotions.

"I would like for you to cover the various types of magical energy," she requested, "and if you could, the cause of immortality." He smiled; leave it to her to give him a topic that would actually require him to think.

"I shall now, at the request of our queen, cover the various types of magical energy," he began the second part. "Innate magical energy is the useless type of energy that most magic exists in. It is innate magical energy that permeates every corner of the universe, and is within every being regardless of their ability to utilize it. It is the form that all used-up magical energy inevitably reverts to, thus keeping the amount of magic potential constant throughout time." A man raised his hand, and if Crono had not had such patience, he might have lost composure.

"I'm sorry, Master Guru," the man apologized, "but didn't you say that magical energy was irrational, and the amount of energy changed often?"

The punk-haired guru caught himself almost rolling his eyes; staying calm proved more difficult than he initially thought. "No," he corrected, "what I said was that magical energy could create other types of non-magical energies from nothing. Believe me when I say it is impossible to create magical energy from nothing." His answer satisfied many members of the audience who were confused about the subject the man had asked about. "Where was I? Oh yes. Other types of magical energies include the elements of Fire, Water, Shadow, and Lightning. Wind, Earth, and Light magical energies, while possessing some elemental qualities, are NOT elemental magical energies. There is also physical magical energy, which is similar to telekinesis. There is also mental magical energy, which allows for powers such as telepathy, extrasensory perception, and clairvoyance. Finally, there are the two purest forms of magical energy: Creation energy and Destruction energy. Creation energy is the magical energy of forming an object from nothing, while Destruction energy is the magical energy of annihilation of an object into nothing."

A woman in the front row asked, without raising her hand, "Isn't there controlling energy?"

"Raise your hand to speak," a guard announced to the audience. "Master Guru does not have to answer questions that are asked without a hand being raised."

"There are two types of controlling energy," the punk-haired guru answered anyway. "There is Mind-controlling energy, which falls under a subcategory of telepathy, which falls under mental energy, and Body-controlling energy, which controls the form but not the mind, which falls under Shadow energy." The woman smiled, satisfied, and sat back down. "What was the other thing I was asked to discuss?"

"Immortality, Master Guru," the guard quietly replied.

This subject had been relatively knew to Crono, yet he tried his best to answer. "Your life span is a direct result of how high your maximum Kataga value is. The higher your magical energy limit, the longer you live. In order to be eternally young, you have to have a maximum Kataga value of five billion katagas or higher. Also, the higher your chakra—the combined value of Max Kataga and Max Ki—the higher your ability to recover from injury. Thus, to be _almost_ indestructible, your chakra value has to be _eight_ billion or higher. True immortality, which is recovery from any injury regardless of how fatal it is, is not possible. Ever." He looked at his watch and addressed the audience. "I have time for one final discussion."

Queen Zeal, raising her hand, almost didn't catch his attention. When she did, he stammered a bit to ask for her question. "Guru Crono," she began. It amazed him how she was the only one allowed to use his first name in public. His _own mother_ had to refer to him as "Master Guru" when they walked the streets of Zeal Kingdom. "Can you give…" she hesitated a moment, which confused him, "…a demonstration of…" it seemed at first as though she would speak of a taboo subject, the way she'd stop mid-statement, "…shape-shifting?" Although he made no gesture to betray this feeling, he thought she was way too shy for a queen when speaking in public.

He raised his index finger, telling the crowd non-verbally to wait a moment for him to prepare. "Ah, shape-shifting. It is a type of spell that falls under Shadow energy, and despite its high innate energy requirements, is possibly the simplest of all shadow spells." He stepped out from behind the podium, and closed his eyes to concentrate. Due to his level of skill, it only took him a brief instant to go over the spell in his mind. With his eyes closed, he felt a mild gust of wind whoosh through the auditorium, and when it passed, he heard the entire crowd gasp in amazement. None of them saw before what had just taken place; the bodies, from the neck down, of Queen Zeal and Crono, switched places. The punk-haired guru had the queen's body and clothes from the area of his neck on below, and she had his. Lifting his newly-acquired arms to a welcoming position, outstretched, he regarded he audience. "As you can see, simple." With a nod of his head, the effects of his spell reversed and gave him back his own body without difficulty. Everyone began clapping and cheering. "Thank you," he said, smiling as he left the stage, "good afternoon."

He smiled as his mother greeted him outside the auditorium, embracing him in a warm hug. "Oh, Crono," she began. Immediately she corrected herself. "I mean…Master Guru…"

"Mom, _please_," he countered. "You're my own mother, for crying out loud!" They both chuckled a bit.

"It's just that this is such an unexpected turn! You were always bright as a kid, but I never expected you to be made into one of the legendary four Gurus that look over this kingdom!" She shed a soft tear as she overlooked his wardrobe, in all its vibrant colors and how it contrasted to the bland brown of the animal fur they'd been forced to wear their entire lives. She knew that it was him and him alone that allowed her to live a life she'd never otherwise be granted. "I'm gonna go home and get back to enjoying the rest of my time off from working at the magic tab assembly line."

"I've got a meeting with the other three Gurus today," he informed her. "I'll see you later on for dinner." As he began to walk away, he quickly turned around and finalized it with, "I love you, mom." She watched him amble down the hill and through the series of warp caves to the building where he would discuss the latest matters with the Gurus of Life, Time and Reason. She recalled the day he was born, and how she held him tightly in her arms, wondering what the future would bring.

"I love you too, son," she whispered.

Gaspar alternated between glances at his watch and the door. "Where's that kid?" he asked, mostly for himself. Melchior couldn't help but chuckle. "What's funny? My time's being wasted here!"

The Guru of Life shook his head as he laughed a bit. "You're so darn impatient, Gaspar," he reminded. "I mean, for crying out loud, you're the Guru of _Time_. They call you that because you're supposed to be the expert on it. Can't you be a little more patient?" Belthasar, the Guru of Reason, had a concurring viewpoint.

"I agree with Melchior, Gaspar," he flatly stated. "You're the time expert; didn't you say it would be best to get here fifteen minutes early?"

"YOU two aren't the ones that have to work on the Chrono Trigger—a project that requires the Guru of Existence's magical knowledge—mind you," he informed them. "This kid's wasting my time." It was at that precise moment that the door swung widely open. The three gurus examined Crono, eyeing everything from his wardrobe to his reddish-orange spiky hair. They each had their own unique feelings about the boy, based solely on their perception of how he looked, but Gaspar already had a slightly negative first impression due to his impatience.

"Sorry I'm late, everyone!" he announced, sitting at his end of the table. Belthasar broke the ice by extending his hand in friendship. Melchior sensed a positive aura in the kid, and thus he felt slightly at ease. "Allow me to introduce myself; I'm Crono Tekoris, as you know the Guru of Existence. We have an hour or so to discuss the matters we each are involved in, so to save time, I've been briefed by Dalton on each of you. Let's get straight to business." Gaspar's mood changed when he heard of the kid's conservative use of his time.

"The Lavos discovery," Belthasar quickly stated. It had been one of the most heated discoveries of the past hundred years, and as such, there were two sides to the issue. "I have conducted some research on it and I believe it would be conducive to the power of Zeal Kingdom if we act immediately and build a machine capable of transmitting the power emissions of Lavos to every corner of the kingdom." Melchior attempted to hush him by making halting motions with his hands.

"Whoa there a minute, Belthasar!" he replied. "Are you suggesting we go off half-cocked? I say we do more research before we jump to conclusions!"

"But have you done any research, Melchior?"

Melchior rapped his fist on the table. "No, and that's a further point! You should let us all research it and _then_ make our final decision."

"I'm sorry to interrupt, fellows," Gaspar entered, "but the Queen's asked us to come to the final decision on this matter by five o'clock, three days from now."

"Dammit!" Belthasar said, a little louder than he wanted to. "We'll never make the decision in time!"

"Excuse me," Crono announced, attempting to get the attention of the other three. All he heard was the arguing of the other gurus, and thus they did not hear a word he'd said. When he realized this, Crono screeched, "EXCUSE ME!" At once all of them halted and glanced at the source of the breakup of their argument.

"What is it, Crono?" Gaspar asked. With a smile on his face, the punk-haired guru threw down a bundle of four pieces of paper that was stapled together. The time guru picked it up and read it over very quickly. He pulled it closer to his eyes, disbelieving of what he actually had just read. "You can't be serious with these results, Crono! You're saying that Lavos has the ability to create time gates?" Gaspar's statement caught Belthasar's attention, who swiped the paper out of the time guru's grip. He too, seemed startled.

"You're telling me that Lavos is a living creature and not merely a meteor with a storage of energy within!" Belthasar's surprising outburst caused Melchior to read over his fellow guru's shoulder, and he seemed the most surprised.

"How did you get close enough to Lavos to measure his power readings and aura!" Melchior couldn't help but question. Crono, as was typical of his style, had the answer before the question was asked.

"The one who discovered the energy emanations of Lavos did so by doing a bit of spelunking in the deepest cave above the water's surface down Earth-side," Crono explained. He shrugged his shoulders as though his studying of the mighty Lavos was a trivial matter. "I merely did the same thing, only I have much more talent with reading aura and energy emissions than the man who discovered Lavos some fifty years prior." The punk haired guru predicted his fellow Guru's next question before it even had to be asked. "You're wondering exactly what I think we should do about the 'tapping into Lavos's power' issue. My idea is that we attempt to study the psyche of this 'Lavos' creature, and attempt to communicate to it that we mean it no harm, _before_ we attempt to start sucking in its power for our own use."

Belthasar shook his head. "Our previous source of power was a sun stone," he explained. "It was supposed to have been capable of storing a near infinite amount of the sun's energy within it, yet we used it up in less than a hundred and seventy years. What are we supposed to use for power? This tired, old planet's only gonna put out so much more power. We have to make use of whatever we have!"

Melchior did not completely agree, but he at least saw where his fellow guru was coming from. "Belthasar, we can't just go sucking power out of a living being. I agree with you that the Earth has only so much more power left, but where're we gonna get the power to save Zeal Kingdom if this Lavos creature attacks us for using its resources?"

"But," Gaspar interrupted, "we can't be sure that this Lavos is really capable of that degree of thought!"

"Guys, you're missing the point," Crono interrupted. "You guys haven't been as far deep into the Earth as I've been. I've studied the Earth's energy stores from deep within. Don't worry about this planet; we've got more than enough energy left in the Earth to last us another fifty-thousand years. Surely in that much time someone far wiser than any of us will be born and have the ability to answer that question better than we."

Belthasar looked at Crono grimly as though such were too terrible an option to take. "We just can't take the easy way out and let our descendants have to put up with our inability to solve the power issue. I'm casting my vote for using Lavos as an energy source. Who's with me?" Melchior looked at him like he was nuts.

"Belthasar," the Guru of Life argued, "don't you realize the risk that we're taking! Based on Crono's data, this creature has more than enough power to destroy our entire kingdom in an instant! I'm voting against you."

"You two are both nuts," Gaspar said of Crono and Melchior. "How is Lavos going to have enough power to annihilate our kingdom based on our high energy requirements! I'm voting for using Lavos as an energy source." Melchior turned to the young Guru of Existence. Crono almost felt sad, for he almost knew word for word what would be said next.

"Crono," Melchior shook his head and admitted, "I'm sorry. I just can't get us all four tied up in this decision. I'm voting to use Lavos as an energy source." The Guru of Reason lifted to his side of the table the paper which had a list of all the issues they had to discuss, and stamped "accepted" on top of the item, "Use Lavos as power source." They one by one decided for or against the remaining issues within their allotted hour's time, except Crono felt defeated that his side of the primary issue had been completely disregarded. He felt, more than anything else, that by tapping into the power owned by a living being, they were making a grave mistake.


	3. The Devil's Throat

The Fourth Relevant Truth

By Moonraker One

A/N: Sorry for the shortness of this chapter. I just had a lot to do.

CHAPTER THREE – The Devil's Throat

Crono had never felt so disenfranchised his entire life.

Not only had the other three Gurus completely disregarded his side of the issue, but they had done it for time constraint reasons. He approached the main palace of the Zeal Kingdom, with mind set to speak directly with the queen. It was a living being that dwelled within the meteor buried miles below the Earth's surface, and to simply begin drawing power out of it was a mistake of the highest order; it was akin to stealing. He wondered fully how three educated men could make such an obvious mistake with serious regard. It all boiled down to laziness and a lack of desire to get off one's butt and do the work of studying a living creature's psyche.

A young servant girl, blue-haired like almost all Enlightened ones, stood at her post at the front entrance inside the palace, writing away at her book of those who came and went. With a smile and a welcoming gesture of her hand, she wrote his name and title in the arrivals column. "Oh, hello there, Master Guru!" she cooed, obviously moon-struck by his physical features. "What is the nature of your presence?"

He cleared his throat. "I must see Queen Zeal immediately," he replied, putting as much importance in the tone of his voice as possible.

She seemed impressed by his need to speak with the queen at once, and with a press of the small red button on the side of her post she alerted the secretary in the hallway to the queen's chambers of his arrival. "Right up the main staircase, Master Guru," she said, giggling slightly as he walked by.

_Women,_ he thought, rolling his eyes. _What is it about me that slays them!_ He'd come across several groups of teenage girls of Enlightened nature earlier, and they all seemed to have the same crush on him. Was it his Earthbound origins? Was it the fact that he had good muscular development more than most teens due to his years of sword practice? Or was it that he simply was the youngest Guru in over nine hundred years? He wondered, but never knew for sure. He certainly did not want to date; such would require him to subject himself to the opinions of other people, some of which held prejudice against him due to his line of descent being earthly and not Enlightened.

The somewhat long hallway that led to the queen's chamber was decorated with the kings and queens of Zeal's past in the form of portraits that all were exceptionally well painted. He marveled at the sheer detail that was put into the decorations of the walls and the ceiling, and wondered just how such a grand amount of detail could be put into a small section of hall between the main room of a palace and a large private chamber, when there were children down earth side that could not eat because they didn't have enough food. Regardless, such was not his place to question. His job was Zeal kingdom's magic; he had to watch over it and regulate its use. Anything that required his intelligence was certainly a daunting task indeed, for he had a lot of knowledge in the magical arts for someone as young as him.

"Master Guru, the queen will see you now," a subordinate said, sitting behind a desk. She wrote his name and rank on her book and pressed the button to allow him entry into the queen's chamber.

Queen Zeal sat atop her throne, staring at the subordinates who were coming and going, gathering her tea and other requirements. When Crono entered the chamber with his blade sheathed at his side, a servant came to him and politely requested he remove it and place it inside a special bin for items not allowed in the queen's presence.. "My blade is in service to the queen," he replied. "Only she can order its removal." To this, the queen motioned for him to step forth.

"Guru Crono," Zeal began, "I hear you had the dissenting opinion regarding the Lavos issue. Is that what you came to me to discuss?"

His eyes widened for just a moment; she clearly was a person who cut straight to the chase. He bowed before her and returned to a standing position. "You are correct, your highness," he stated. "I came to discuss my reasons for not concurring with the other three Gurus." He waited for a cue of some kind from her so that he could continue with his explanation. She nodded, so he continued. "You see, your highness," he went on, "from my studies of the energy emissions from Lavos' meteor, it has become evident that within the meteor is not only a large storage of magical energy, but a living being as well."

She cleared her throat; such was not something that she expected. She expected that it was pure luck that a meteor with a large amount of energy within had landed countless years ago, and a team five decades prior had discovered it. The prospect of limitless energy seemed too good to be true, and his words proved why. "You're serious?" she inquired. An almost mournful nod solidified his answer.

"Your highness, would you be so kind as to allow the other gurus and myself to further study this living creature—and if we're lucky, communicate with it—before we attempt any sort of power drawing of any sort?"

She gave serious thought to it, and he could see that she was considering his side. He wondered if she was worrying about the planet's energy supply, and as such he stated, "If you're worrying about how much energy our planet has, don't. We've got more than enough support from Earth to power the kingdom another fifty thousand years. An extra month or so won't do any harm to your mighty kingdom." It seemed to be his words that made it official in her mind. She knew that if a living being had control of such power, then to simply go in and take it from that creature would possibly make it very angry. She didn't want something with as much power as Crono's previous data stated attempting to destroy almost three hundred thousand people.

"Okay, Guru Crono, the other Gurus and yourself have exactly four weeks' time to get in any studying and/or communication attempts with this Lavos creature that you need. However, after the month is up, you and the others must begin construction of this 'Mammon Machine' that Melchior has drawn blueprints for." He smiled, and bowing his head, left the chamber of the queen, but her final words were troubling to him. Melchior had already drawn up plans for a machine, without his being told! They were actually going to build said device _without_ one of Zeal's most important minds being involved! He could not stand for this; he'd intended to go to visit his friend Kafta, but changed his mind and decided that visiting the other Gurus was conducive to his plans.

"Excuse me, ma'am," Crono said, getting the attention of the lady at the front post. She obviously enjoyed speaking to him, which almost caused him to roll his eyes again. "Can you tell me where the other three Gurus are at right now?"

"Masters Melchior, Belthasar and Gaspar are all going over the plans for the new 'Mammon Machine' that they will start working on." Suddenly, she caught her own words, and seemed shocked. "Wait a minute, you're the Guru of Existence, possibly the most important of the four! Where they planning on getting your input at all!"

"That's what I'm going to find out now," he uttered, slightly peeved. As he walked on, with the palace fading behind him, he felt four distinct presences approach him. Their auras were distinctly Enlightened, and feminine, so they had to be young and relatively experienced in magic. Regardless of their purpose, he knew they were following him, so he stopped a few steps later and turned around.

"Hello, Master Guru! We're your apprentices!" a cheerful young woman's voice rang out.

_You've got to be kidding me,_ he thought. They looked to be four young female duplicates of him. Their physical features were different, and there the differences ended. Their outfits were white breeches for pants like his and their shirts, boots and socks even, were all exactly like his. Even their shiny blue hair had been gelled, combed, cut, and dyed to look _exactly_ like his. They even had swords that, he predicted, were forged and sharpened exactly like his. Were they apprentices, which would be taught by him the ways of magic and swordplay, or fan girls? Shaking his head, he almost laughed at the sheer ridiculousness that was how much detail they'd put into looking like him. He coughed and raised his eyebrows in a mixture of shock and hilarity. "I'm sorry; this is just such a shock. I mean, I KNOW each Guru is assigned a team of apprentices to be trained and learn from him, but you girls…I don't know what to say."

The one in front looked at herself as though she'd skipped an important detail. "Oops, did…did we miss something? I mean, we were ordered by Queen Zeal to fit in with you, and we figured, what better way than to duplicate your outfit!"

"No no," he immediately corrected. "The outfit is…" he couldn't think of a good way to describe how perfectly like his it was, "…simply so much like mine. Although," this time he did let out a mild chuckle, "I do believe this isn't what the queen meant when she said, 'fit in with me.'" He opened his eyes wider for a moment as he walked away with them closely following him. _They even dyed their eyebrows reddish-orange like mine! Holy crap! How long were they in the bathroom at their houses!_

"Where are we going, Master Guru?"

"To the other Gurus."

"Is there going to be an important project, Master Guru?"

Crono could not believe that plans for a machine to extract Lavos's power would be drawn up _without_ his prior knowledge and input. "Not if I can help it," he uttered, continuing his fevered pace towards the science rooms in the private science building constructed for the purpose of serving the people's desire to involve themselves in the current activities of the Gurus and their workings. Being the Guru of Existence, he knew he'd only have so long to discuss the matter with the other three gurus before he had to attend his first ever teaching job; a mixed class consisting of both Enlightened and Earthbound students were to learn of the intricate process of controlling and using magic from him. Earthbound people couldn't simply be considered Enlightened by being able to use magic; they had to prove it by means of testing. Unfortunately, that meant that even those from down earth side that knew how to use magic and could do so, would still be considered lower class until they could turn eighteen and prove themselves worthy. Crono himself was an exception; he was the first time, in the history of the Zeal kingdom, that a natural born Earthbound person was elected to a Guru position while still of earthly classification.

The large, white building with the dome at the top always amazed him whenever he stepped into it. The large, sweeping lobby had numerous hallways leading to different areas, and lots of elevator shafts and doors leading to various rooms, and one particularly large desk at the front where everyone had to sign in. The young man at the desk bowed his head in the presence of Crono and wrote his name down. "Master Guru!" he inquired. "Are you here to see the other Gurus?"

"Yes," Crono explained. "My apprentices," he looked behind him at the would-be female clones of him with slight exasperation, "and I are here to discuss with them the plans for a machine."

"Alright, then. I'll tell them you're coming up."

The punk-haired Guru nodded and pressed the button on the third elevator shaft going up. His female disciples crowded into the elevator, each thinking different thoughts as the doors eagerly slid shut and the car began its way up. Crono was wondering what influence he would have to have on the device that they were building, whereas his subordinates were wondering exactly what they were going to learn from him today. It was a short run from the ground floor to the fifth floor where the Gurus each had their own private work rooms and one large laboratory where they could work together on whatever projects required the four of them. He stormed out of the elevator and practically threw the door to the lab open.

"Why, hello there, Guru Crono," Belthasar stated.

"HOW dare you draw up plans for a machine without my input!" Crono shouted.

The other three backed off like wounded animals. Belthasar, the primary mind on the mechanical aspects of the Mammon Machine, did not now how to respond to such an outburst. Melchior, who had been working out the inner workings part of the schematics, believed he had an answer. "Guru Crono," he replied, "we merely were asked by the queen to have a plan ready. We were going to ask for your input anyway, we just wanted to have the basic drawings down."

Crono rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm sorry for freaking out, but, I need to give my advice on the actual 'energy-drawing' aspects of the machine, which require me to overlook the physical design of the machine."

Belthasar folded his arms; this kid had just been named a Guru, and already he wanted to oversee the project? Who did he think he was? "How would the physical design of the machine impact the magical aspects of it?"

"I know you don't take me seriously, Guru Belthasar; I guess it's because I'm young, or maybe because I'm earthbound. But in any case," he called to mind his knowledge of magic, and it was vast indeed, "magic flows much easier through some shapes and curves than others. The outer shell can be generic for aesthetic value, but the part that draws the energy into the core must be curved at a precise angle or energy will flow in and out." He had a small notebook in his pocket that he used for his schedule. The other Gurus considered it primitive for someone who could write on metal with magic, but he had his own reasons. He pulled it out and held up one particular entry. "Today, gentlemen, I'll be leaving this room in approximately," he checked his watch for a brief moment, "ten minutes. So I won't be able to talk long now. However, I'm having a class today, and I've instructed the students to wear their winter clothing because we're going on a field trip Earth side."

Gaspar, who'd been relatively isolated, entered the conversation. "Guru Crono, what sort of field trip are you planning?"

It was the question he'd been hoping for. "I'm planning to show them how to read magical energy signatures, and that way, I was hoping you three would come with me so that we can get some current aura readings down. Not a full aura fluctuation reading, but just a basic grasp of the pattern of energy changes. You know, a trip down the Devil's Throat cave?"

"Guru Crono," Melchior interrupted, "we've got a week to build a machine to begin extracting Lavos's energy emissions."

Crono shook his head. "Wrong. I've spoken to the queen, and she's allotted us a month's time to study any aspects of Lavos that are needed. I've got a precise list of times I can be free to conduct energy signature and aura fluctuation readings on the Lavos site. Let's now go over when we can do this. How about, the first aura fluctuation reading we do this Thursday?"

Melchior mentally recalled his schedule. "Works for me," he admitted.

Gaspar shook his head. "I've got a workshop to conduct. Saturday is fine for me, though."

"Does that work with you, Belthasar?" Melchior asked of his fellow Guru. "Saturday works great for me." A nod from the third Guru and the final decision went to Crono, who wrote down the date.

"Saturday at noon, then," he finished. "Bring your tools and any gear you need for cave exploration; it's a sixteen-minute trek through the cave, then a four hundred foot climb down to the chamber closest to Lavos."

Melchior seemed confused. "The closest chamber to Lavos is a half a mile down farther; it's the one right next to the meteor site!"

Gaspar interrupted. "Can't go that deep, I'm afraid. The one four hundred foot down is as close as you can get without being fried by Lavos's energy shield." The aging time Guru smiled as Crono looked to him with confusion. "Yup, after our little debate, I decided to test the water myself, so to speak. Explored two caves; one was near Lavos where I got a good sense of his emissions, and the other, I found a time gate."

Crono's eyes shot open wide. "A **_WHAT_**!"


	4. Devil's Throat continued

The Fourth Relevant Truth

by Moonraker One

A/N: Chapter three wasn't long enough, so instead of making a true "chapter four" I'm making a chapter "three and a half."

CHAPTER THREE AND A HALF - The Devil's Throat (continued)

Crono shook his head; had the aging time Guru actually said what he thought the man had said? He'd read of time gates being open throughout the world's history, but never before had he had a chance to see one. Many questions flooded his mind as he stood opposite his fellow servants of magic and science. One of the main ones was in regards to the energy patterns that had to be unique to a time gate. Gaspar, however, predicted that this would be one of the first reactions his fellow Guru would have to learning of the existence of a time gate within Zeal's current time, and as such he had data beforehand that he had gathered. He wasn't as good at reading auras or energy fluctuation patterns quite as well as the young man, but he had his skill in the field of magic; he wasn't a complete waste of time.

"Guru Gaspar," Crono stammered, once he actually got his breath together and his mind had at least a vague idea of what he should say, "tell me, where did you find...a _time gate_ of all things...! I mean, the particular information about it would be excellent to get! I have to do some research on this at once!"

Gaspar chuckled a bit. "Don't worry, Guru Crono," he advised, presenting the folder to his younger Guru. "I'm not that rusty on reading magical energy." Crono snatched the folder from the aging time Guru's hand like a child getting his first Christmas present. Flipping open the folder revealed information he'd never imagined. Not only was the fluctuation readings unlike just about anything ever seen, the particular way that the wave pattern of magical energy went up and down predictably according to the presence of people proved correct Gaspar's long-standing Conservation of Time Theorem that he'd been developing for a long time. It stated that if a person was to step into a time warp with three or more people alongside him, they all would be sent to the time-space coordinates that provided the least life ki-to-magic energy resistance: the end of time. The reason was so simple to see now that Crono had the information in his hand; with four or more, the amount of life ki emanating from the group overwhelmed the capacity of that particular warp and forced them all into a side warp heading to the end of time. One of the reasons Gaspar was so eager about this discovery was because it validated his theorem.

Crono stared at the paper with wide-eyed ecstasy; it was almost too much for the young man to take in. Later on, after he was done with his class, he'd have to activate the warp and see where it went. First, however, as he stood in the presence of his fellow Gurus, he realized that he had to first teach his scheduled class on the details of reading aura and sensing magical energy. He looked at his watch to determine the exact time and very nearly fell backwards in shock; he would be late if he did not leave immediately. "Sorry, guys, but I have to go!" he shouted, dashing out the door as fast as possible.

In a building just at the bottom of the hill atop which the Zeal Palace stood, a classroom full of Earthbound and Enlightened students sweated due to the fact that they'd been told to wear heavy coats for a Earth-side trek. A whole two minutes had passed beyond the start time and the teacher had not arrived. Suddenly, though, some of them found their patience to be worthwhile as none of them expected their instructor to be the Guru of Existence; usually, they had an ordinary teacher that would come in to give them magic lessons. They'd never actually received word that it was going to be Crono, they merely got the written instructions via their regular teacher that a different one would be with them on this day.

"M...Master Guru!" one of the students in the front row called out, surprised.

Crono managed a stupid grin and waved at the class. "Sorry I'm late, I just had a discussion with the other Gurus that went longer than I hoped," he explained. "Is everyone ready?" It became immediately apparent that some of them were more skilled than others at magic; he could tell by their unique aura patterns. Still, they all had vast amounts of learning left to do and he had just the right level of talent to properly teach them aura reading. "I can tell just by sensing you that there are some who've already passed the basic test to utilize magic, while others of you have no magical energy inside your aura at all." He could tell that the truth he'd just stated weighed heavily on the minds of some of the students who couldn't yet use magic; he too, had been discouraged before he began his learning, about age six when he wandered into a cave for three days and came out with the ability to use magic. "Don't worry. Today I guarantee that all of you will at least be capable of reading auras, and by being able to read auras, you will soon take grasp of magic." On the scale of magical capability, Crono was somewhere in the range of three hundred million katagas-more than enough magical ability to put him as the second most powerful mage in the Zeal kingdom, next to the queen herself. "The other three Gurus will be joining us in the Devil's Throat cave. Let's go!"

_An angry winter sky hovered menacingly over a young child of six frightened out of his wits. He had been lost for two days in the wilderness of ice that was the Earth side. Somehow, over the past third of a day he'd wandered away from the group of his mother and a few of her friends that were gathering furs for clothing. Clutching his fur overshirt, he shivered while moving onward, desperately, insanely praying that some refuge from the never-ending storm of snow and ice would present itself before him. God, please help me, he thought to himself._

_Somehow, through the foggy wall of descending snow he saw the image of an opening begin to take shape out of the torrent of white. Th...thank you, God! A cave! he shouted inside his own mind as he tossed aside his sense of cold and dashed towards the cave entrance._

Guru Crono smiled as he thought of his class; he recalled his years in the academy. The group of students, however, had mixed feelings about the day's scheduled field trip. Some of them were more used to it than others, but inevitably they grumbled and complained about how far away the cave was; far on the other edge of the land mass near the water's edge, it was more than a forty minute trek, and they'd been crossing it for a good deal of time. Once the class did reach it, though, they were largely unimpressed with their surroundings; it was not brightly lit, nor was it even very well revealed from the surrounding rock. Crono surveyed the entrance and his class, and responded, "Well, we're here. It is in a cave near here that I first learned about magic. Now, as we descend the cave, I'm certain that a good portion of you will find yourselves more readily able to use magic; that's due to the level of energy being higher here than other places." He waved them on. "Follow me!"

_Pitch black._

_An all consuming darkness swallowed all possible chances of seeing the walls, or even the path for a young Crono, six years old and stranded from his family. In fact, being unable to see his hand an inch from his face had a slight maddening effect. To further his suffering, he had no idea how much time he'd wandered; all he knew was what he could feel. His legs, like lead weights refused to move without a huge amount of effort, and his arms hung down as he could no longer hold them up. It had been what seemed like an eternity since he last ate or drank and he could not press on. He took one final step forward; one final act of defiance against the immovable object that was death. Then he fell forward, landing flat on his face with his hands above his head._

_"Crono."_

_The boy, near death, opened his eyes only slightly, as it was all he could muster. A light entered his field of vision, and lifted him to his feet with one swift motion. Finding newfound vigor in his limbs, he looked at himself a moment, ensuring that there was no major difference between what he had been a few moments prior, and when he found nothing different, he pressed on. Pulsating lights came from...well, somewhere up ahead. It was the only thing that kept him from giving in to the pain that wanted to force him down on the ground. It took him a few moments to make sure that the light was not a hallucination that he was suffering from, and then he entered the chamber from which the brilliant illuimination came from _

_"You've come here for a reason." The strange voice, that he felt more than heard, came from what had to be the single brightest light he'd ever seen, emitting from a crystal in the center of the room. The room was vastly unimpressive, and looked no different froim the cave's entrance with the sole exception of the crystal in the center._

_Crono shook his head. "W...who are you!" he asked, largely confused. He had absolutely no idea what was going on._

_"Too much suffering you and your family have suffered," the crystal stated. "Do you deny this?"_

_Crono rolled his eyes; this...crystal or entity or whatever it was, had a knack for stating the obvious. "Yeah."_

_If the crystal had a face, it would be smiling, as the young child in its presence could feel a positive mood about it. Crono immediately disregarded anything of the sort; to sense another being's mood required magic, and he had none. The mysterious glowing crystal noticed at once the confusion. "Do not worry, as you soon shall be the one who will make a difference." Not the very instant the voice ended, the crystal's glow intensified what seemed like a thousand times._

_What, the... Crono thought, as the light began to die out. Once the light had gone back to normal, he felt a lot of strange twinges that he'd never felt before...it was suddenly as if he could feel every person in Zeal kingdom, even though he was far below the mighty kingdom in the sky. He immediately realized what had happened._

_Magic. He suddenly had the ability to use magic! It was a dream come true! The secret technique, reserved only for those of Enlightened descent and position! Magic! He could only previously imagine what he could do for his family if he had magical capabilty, but now, it was his! An afterthought struck him. "You soon shall be the one who will make a difference;" what had the crystal meant? He shook off his confusion and began the long journey back to the entrance, except this time he had fire spells to keep his pathway lit._


	5. The Mammon Machine

The Fourth Relevant Truth

By Moonraker One

A/N: This takes place about three months after the events of chapter three.

CHAPTER FOUR – The Mammon Machine

The four gurus stood immediately in front of one of the single largest undertakings that Zeal Kingdom had ever seen. The large, immensely grand-looking Mammon Machine had been the project that had seen countless hours of effort and knowledge displayed by the four gurus. None had quite known what the outcome of all their effort would be, they just stood, praying that the device worked according to their plans. The final component of the enormous device was a chipboard that had within it the magic required to utilize the energy of the life form Lavos, and power the kingdom with it. Each guru had his own expectations of the way that the power source would work, other than the written objective of course, but Crono was the only one who did not fully trust the source of energy. If Lavos had been a lifeless meteor with energy inside, he would have put his complete trust in the machine; but as it stood, not only was the meteor a life form, but it also had sentient capacity for thought.

"We stand here today," Guru Belthasar announced to the room filled with the Queen and her family, and several students of each guru, "in the wake of one of the greatest sources of power in the universe. Based upon our own unique study of the Lavos meteor, we have determined that it is a life form that produces a seemingly unlimited amount of energy. If this machine works according to our preset objectives, it will make our kingdom the dominant power in the universe!" The room then roared with applause. All were captivated by the prospect of free, limitless energy. Only Guru Crono considered it to be too good to be true. God forbid he express such an opinion, or he would probably find himself on the wrong end of the queen's good will.

"Guru Crono," Zeal instructed the youngest of the four, "activate the machine!"

Holding his breath, Crono shoved the chipboard into the center hole of the machine, and kicked it on with a lightning spell that started the inflow of energy into the primary chamber of the Mammon Machine. It gave off a small surge of electricity as it sucked power from the Lavos site far below the surface of the Earth. The machine hovered above a circular section of the floor through which a large degree of power came through and into the bottom intake of the device. Newly converted power radiated outward through the top of the device and spread through the kingdom like a wave, empowering the machines and lights of the kingdom that ran on electricity. All were astounded by the sheer sense of power that Lavos's energy had. While everyone else took it as a sign of a powerful new tool for the kingdom to utilize, Crono saw it as a bad sign. He knew that the meteor had the energy required to annihilate almost anything it wanted. He knew also that the thickness of the waves of magical energy implied that the enormous energy requirements of a kingdom of millions of people did not at all tax the capacities of the Lavos meteor.

Queen Zeal twitched a moment as the machine activated. "Wha…a…my…eh…"

Dalton instantly held the queen by her shoulders as she began to appear lightheaded and dizzy. "Your Highness! What is wrong?" he asked.

She wiped her brow. "I…I'm fine, Dalton." Crono saw at once that she was something other than all right; she was experiencing the dizziness that comes when a magical force attempts to break into one's soul.

Crono turned to the servant closest to the machine. "Turn the machine off! NOW!"

"No…keep…the machine…on," the queen weakly said.

The servant was torn between orders. "Sir! I…"

Crono clenched his teeth. "TURN THE DAMN MACHINE _OFF_!"

The queen practically convulsed under the struggle of magical energy going on with in her body. As the servant reached for the machine, in a display of uncharacteristic physical strength, she literally threw Dalton aside. "I'M ORDERING YOU TO KEEP THE MACHINE RUNNING!" As she ran to the servant, she got progressively closer to the machine, and Crono saw that the closer she got, the worse her convulsions became. Without a second to waste, he recited his most powerful basic lightning spell, and extending his left arm straight as a board, he fired a powerful bolt directly into the heart of the machine. It exploded with unbelievable force, throwing all in separate directions. Metal shards littered the floor as everyone regained their feet.

"GURU CRONO!" Melchior shouted. "That was _five weeks of work_!"

Crono shook his head; had he not acted fast enough, the queen possibly would have died or worse, lost her soul. "I'm sorry I had to destroy the Mammon Machine," he explained, "but there was a torrent of magical energy fluctuating within the queen's body. She very well may have lost her life or her soul had I not acted."

Dalton examined the queen. Janus and Schala were behind the large bodyguard when he stood up and shielded them with his own body before the explosion, and were quick to snap to. The queen lay on her stomach, unconscious. "Quick! Get a medical team in here before…"

Crono lifted her into his arms. "No need. She's not injured, just out cold. I'll have to repair her energy pathways inside her body. Shouldn't take but an afternoon."

Dalton stuck by the young guru like a fox to a chicken. "Are you sure?"

The punk-haired guru stared at him. "Are you also the Guru of Existence? This is my specialty."

Folding his arms, Dalton understood that he had been beaten in argument. However, it was his duty to ensure that no funny business went down while the queen was in the care of the talented young Guru of Existence. He didn't trust the kid, for whatever unknown reason; if Crono did anything any way abnormal, it would mean the bodyguard's head would roll. Execution was the last thing he wanted. Crono saw massive damage to the magical energy pathways that flowed through the queen's body; it meant that she would have to be in bed for an extended period of time. He estimated it to be a four day recovery. Janus followed the guru closely, his eyes focused intently on the unconscious figure of his mother, being carried within the teen's arms. He had never seen such a powerful usage of magic done quickly, but he wondered how effective the lightning spell had been. Schala shared in his concerns; they both worried that permanent damage to their mother had been done.

"Everyone," Crono explained, turning around to face the growing crowd of friends, family and personal servants of the queen. "Inside the room, I'm going to require utmost silence and privacy. The slightest interference by any other source of magical energy entering the room may cause irreparable damage to her magical tracts, and as such, kill her."

Dalton nodded. "As you wish, Master Guru," he complied. He would see to it that absolutely no one entered the queen's private chambers. The crowd continued to follow until they made it to the entrance to the queen's chambers. Crono did not require special tools, as he had all he needed on hand. The body guard, however, made sure he had a medical team waiting outside the door just in case. Everyone stood in wait as the thick, soundproof door slammed shut.

Crono set the queen gently down in the center of the room, moving all furniture to the edges of the room with a telekinesis spell. He flipped her on her stomach so that he could undo her royal dress. One tie at a time did he untie the back of her clothing and slide it off. He did not like having to disrobe the queen down to her undergarments but it was required for him to perform the spells required. Her jewelry also had to be removed. He set all her attire and accessories at the edge of the room.

With the tip of his sharp katana he cut a small front facing Manji symbol—the Buddhist symbol of life—into the palm of his right hand. On the queen's stomach, he cut a rear facing Manji symbol—the Buddhist symbol of power—of the same size. Using the tip of his opposing hand's index finger, he wiped blood from the wound and drew straight lines from the points of the manji on her stomach to the far walls of the room. Finally, he recited a two part spell: part one was the healing part of the spell, and it sealed the wound on his hand, leaving behind scar marks in the shape of the manji. Part two was the reinforcing part of the spell—the purpose of which was to prevent similar damage from occurring again—and it sealed the wound on her stomach, again leaving a scar in the shape of the manji. Once he completed the reciting of both parts, he touched his palm to her stomach, making sure the center points of both symbols touched. The instant skin met skin, the trails of blood he'd drawn began to pull inward as the space between his hand and her stomach began to glow brightly. When the trails of blood each met the center of the glow, the light intensified, bathing the entire chamber in an almost inhumanly bright illumination. Slowly the beam concentrated until it was a single ray of light emitting upward to the ceiling, and then it slowly began to creep downward towards his hand. Upon contact, the room got pitch black for a second and then the electric lights returned to normal. Pulling his hand back, he noticed the sealing spell had been a success; both scar marks were gone, as were the blood trails he'd drawn. This was not to heal the damage done by Lavos, this was to undo any damage done to her soul and to safeguard her against any future invasion attempts at her spirit. Because she was out, she felt nothing.

After that, he began the very intricate procedure of finding all the damaged magic energy pathways through her body (and due to her level of power, there were thousands of them), and healing them with bits and pieces of his own energy. It took him almost ten hours of work to do. Once he had completed the grueling task of repairing her energy pathways, he carefully redressed her and reapplied all of her accessories before performing CPR until she regained consciousness.

"cough cough G…Guru Crono?" she sputtered, catching her breath. "Wha…what happened? Why am I on the floor in my chambers?"

He helped her to a seated position. "Slowly, your highness," he informed her. "The Mammon Machine was reacting badly to your energy. You could have died if I hadn't destroyed the machine."

A little bit at a time, she remembered what had happened. "It…It was as if," she hesitated as she recalled the horrifying details. "It was as if something was pulling me, pulling me out of my body!"

He nodded. "Yes, your highness, that _is_ what happened. Because you have so many magical pathways connecting your body to your soul, I was able to shut off the machine before your spirit was taken out. I've spent the past ten hours repairing your damaged energy pathways."

She felt her stomach. "I feel…a strange energy there…"

"Certainly, your highness. That is a defensive sealing spell I put on you. You'll burn up a little bit more magical energy with each spell, but in return, you cannot lose your soul. If you run out of magical energy, for whatever reason, the last bit of what you've got will teleport you to a safe location."

She seemed slightly concerned. "If…it becomes a hindrance, could I remove it?"

He lowered his eyebrows. "I…don't see why you'd _want_ to remove it." He shook his head. "No. I painted it on you with my own blood; because of that it cannot be removed. If you're concerned about the extra magical energy loss, I can make you an amulet that minimizes…"

She cut him off. "No, no, I'll be fine." She stammered a moment. "I'm just…concerned."

He smiled. "You don't have to be. Trust me." He helped her to stand up.

"Thank you, Guru Crono," the queen admitted. Bowing, he left the room.

He'd sensed that her energy pathways had been tampered with by a time-delay spell, indicating that before the day of the machine's activation, someone had put a spell on her to be activated by the surge of the machine starting up. It was intended to weaken her magical energy pathways, and in turn, make it easier for Lavos to steal her soul. Of all the people who knew time-delay spells, one name popped into his mind as the best in the kingdom. He was going to have quite the angry talk with Dalton.


	6. A confrontation

The Fourth Relevant Truth  
By Moonraker One

A/N: Sorry for another short chapter.

CHAPTER FIVE – A Confrontation

Crono stormed down the halls of the palace. Never before had he any reason to suspect that Dalton had any sort of ulterior motive, but he knew that the bodyguard had excelled in one field of magic: the time-delayed activation spell. He had personally overseen the instruction of the bodyguard in spells that would defend the queen as needed and he noticed that in ordinary magic, he was merely an average magician. When it came, however, to delaying a spell to activate at a certain time or by a certain event, though, he could pull that off in his sleep. Therefore, if there was anyone who could know something about the queen's strange reaction to Lavos's energy, it would likely be him.

"Master Guru!" the girl outside the bodyguard's office said. "Are you here to see Mr. Dalton?"

Crono nodded. "I have urgent business with him," he told her. "Could you please tell him I'm on my way in?" She tapped her intercom button and informed the large presence, and he opened the door.

"Master Guru," he introduced, bowing. "You have business with me?"

Treading carefully, conversation-wise, Crono gathered his words before speaking. He cleared his throat. "A few days ago, at the ill-fated activation of the Mammon Machine," he began, "you recall the queen's negative reaction to the energy emissions, correct?"

"Oh, yes, that was a big fiasco," Dalton recalled. "I am in your debt for hastily acting, because it was your actions alone that saved our highness."

"That is what I came here to discuss, Dalton. I sensed that the queen's energy pathways were the main reason that she did not lose her soul, and I sensed after healing them that they had been tampered with."

Dalton showed nothing short of negative surprise. "You're kidding!" He looked down, thinking a minute of potential culprits. "W…Who would do such a thing?"

Crono shook his head. "That's what I'm here to ask. I would appreciate it if you could assemble a list for me of the people who seem to be utmost skilled in time-delay activation spells."

Without hesitation the bodyguard nodded. "It shall be in your possession in exactly two days. Is that acceptable?" He awaited an answer with careful eyes; he did not trust the guru, and suspected that it had been he who tampered with the queen so as to get closer to her.

The guru nodded. "Of course. Thank you." He shook the bodyguard's hand and left the room. Greeting the secretary, he walked off. Dalton shut his door, worried that he was a suspect in his young superior's mind. _Darn Gurus,_ he thought. _They're nothing but old news and outdated science._

Crono was glad he had not given in to his initial anger and shouted at the bodyguard; he had noticed several things. _I suppose he's not lying when he implies he's not the culprit,_ the Guru noted. _And if he IS manipulating his memories to prevent me from reading them, he's doing it with magic more advanced than I've seen him capable of._ Dalton's shocked reaction did not surprise Crono, it merely told him that either one of two things had been true: either the bodyguard had been responsible and hid it well, or he genuinely did not have anything to do with it. But if it wasn't Dalton, it meant someone _else_ had been responsible, and the prospect of such meant he'd have to be looking over his shoulder.

Shaking his head, he realized that he had little time to think of such things. For this day he had a schedule that seemed completely filled. His first item of business was a personal tutoring in magic for Schala in regards to her summoning ability, and second was another personal tutoring of Janus in regards to his ability to control shadow spells. The boy had exceptional talent in spells, but the determination and energy lacked. He would have to practice if he aspired to be a sorcerer of any power.

After he finished with his personal tutorings he planned to take a visit to the Crystalry, a new building constructed by order of the queen for the purpose of analyzing crystals from the Earth which gave off exceptional or bizarre energies. Such a science posed a great deal of promise, and he hoped to find a few which could provide for him some of the things he wanted to figure out. One of his biggest hopes was to build an amulet that cut magical energy use by more than seventy-five percent. So far, that is the highest that had been achieved, and the materials required were rare. He hoped to make it more available.

The first stop on his daily schedule was Schala's room, which he made it to with little resistance. Eagerly he knocked on her door, and awaited an answer. Through the door he heard, "Just a minute!" He assumed that she either had not been dressed, or had some other business to take care of. Such was irrelevant as he heard her footsteps approaching the door, and then it swung open. She greeted him with a smile. "Master Guru!" she recognized, bowing to him. "I thank you for taking time out of your list of tasks to help me improve my summoning ability."

Crono shook his head. "It is no burden at all," he reassured her. "I'd be glad to." He waited to be granted permission to enter and then slipped off his sword holsters and placed them on her desk. To keep out intruding bothers, he shut the door. "First, before we begin anything, you must clear your mind of all thoughts. If you are upset or worrying about something, your ability to summon will fail." She took up a folded leg position on the floor and began to focus on removing the concerns of the day from her mind. "Now," he instructed, focusing magical energy onto the palm of his hand, "you must imagine in your mind the creature you wish to summon." She did as told. "If you cannot come up with a clear image the summon will fail." He clenched his fist. "The second thing you must do is wait until the magical energy builds in your hand, causing a mild tingling." With speed he drove his open hand downward towards the floor. "Then you must press your flat palm against the floor and shout, 'VACHIES!'" Once his palm touched the wood floor, a brilliant flash shone from a singularity point a few inches in front of his hand. It faded a second later, revealing a six-foot tall golden-scaled dragon. She sat in awe at the magnificent beast before her. "The more you focus, the better your summon will be. However, you must continuously feed energy into it for it to remain existent in this dimension." Releasing his power, the creature dematerialized instantly. "Now, you try it."

Schala stood up. She closed her eyes just a moment to picture her summoning beast. A golden cluster of magical energy built up on her palm, which she drove towards the floor. "VACHIES!" A light flashed, similar to the one Crono had created, and it vanished, leaving behind the creature she had summoned.

Except it was the size of an anorexic mouse.

"Crud," she swore. She turned to the guru. "Master Guru, this is the problem I always have! I can't make it any bigger, regardless of how much energy I pump into it!" He was left dumbfounded as the creature disappeared. Seldom had he seen this problem. She appeared to have focused enough, and used enough energy, so what was it that had created the problem? _Perhaps,_ he thought to himself, _she just doesn't have the spirit for it._

Bam. That was IT.

_Oh, my god. SPIRIT!_

It amazed him how simple the oversight had been. She simply did not put enough of her spirit into her summoning! "Schala," he instructed, a gleam of hope in his eyes. "I think your problem is that you're not placing enough of your spirit into your magic."

She shook her head, unable to understand. "Spirit? What are you talking about, Master Guru?"

He grinned, not expecting her to know. "I can sense that you're using most of the magical energy from your magical energy reservoir. Instead, put a little bit of your life energy into it as well. THAT'S what you're not doing."

It confused her. "You need a piece of life energy to make a successful summoning?" He nodded. She rolled her eyes. "Good God, is that all?" He nodded again, as she chuckled a bit. "That's the reason why I haven't been able to master summoning?"

"Not too much," he reminded.

She closed her eyes, focusing intently on the image of her summoning beast. Magical energy—and a small piece of life force—pooled in the palm of her hand until the surface of it began to tingle in her grasp. With a single smooth motion she raised her hand above her head and brought it crashing down to the floor, all the while focusing and she shouted, "VACHIES!" All at once a cloud of smoke popped into view and then dissipated. In front of her stood a great beast with large leathery wings. Crono gave a nod of approval and a smile; she had a summoning creature worthy of a princess and heir to the throne of the Zeal Kingdom. While not quite possessing the degree of power as his had, it would pose quite the threat in combat against a foe.

He shook her hand. "See? I told you that you could do it. Now, just practice and I'm certain that you'll master it in a very short period of time." He reattached his swords to his hip. "Now I must go."

A short trod of a distance was it from Schala's room to Janus's. The young son of Zeal stood quite respective of the guru in his presence. Crono once more removed his swords, placing them on the bed of the young prince. He sat in a chair across from his pupil. "Master Guru," Janus uttered, a characteristic lack of enthusiasm in his voice, "I can't seem to be doing very well in the field of shadow spells."

"That's precisely what I'm here to address," Crono reassured. "I know more about lightning spells than I do shadow, but believe me, if there's anyone who can provide you with shadow spell assistance, it's me."


	7. Questions Unanswered

The Fourth Relevant Truth

by Moonraker One

A/N: How long has it been since my last chapter? Geez. I'm sorry, I just lost track of all of it in the chaos of my life.

CHAPTER SIX

Five kilometers from the largest city on the primary island of the Zeal Kingdom sat a sprawling, grandiose six room mansion in which the second most powerful magic user in the kingdom lived with his mother. Crono Tekoris, the Guru of Existence and the kingdom's foremost expert on magic, had gone quite far in his life. From nowhere did he start, and in just the six months since becoming one of the kingdom's gurus he had arisen to the queen's most trusted individual. Janus and Schala, children of the mighty queen, found their skills shaped and strengthened like a diamond under intense heat and pressure, the pressure being the persistence with which the young guru educated them, and the heat being the patience he showed with their relative inexperience. In spite of his extreme power and skill he did not consider himself above anyone; that all beings were on equal level was his philosophy.

He sat at the kitchen table feasting on a magically summoned bowl of fruit slices and milk. He liked his mother's freshly picked fruit cereal better but did not prefer for her to wait on him this particular day. She sat packing a small back pack with the essential goods for her particular adventure; spelunking. Exactly two weeks prior a new cave had been discovered by one of the queen's excavation crews and a magical energy scan by several of Crono's subordinates determined it to be safe, so applications for the group cave exploration started going out and coming back in the same afternoon. Jina Tekoris defeated six other of her friends—all coworkers on the magic tab assembly line—and managed to score a ticket for the last spot on the spelunking trip. She had lived in the main earthbound cities all her life and had never seen the inside of an uninhabited cave before.

"Are you all packed, mom?" He asked in between bites of his fruit chunks.

She hoisted the pack onto her frame and smiled. "I am all set, Master Guru!"

He rolled his eyes and let a quiet grumble. "You know you don't have to call me that in my own house, mom," he rebutted.

"Oh, but I love to!" she counter-argued. "You have a very noble position! I think it's good that you have an official title, like your father." She closed her eyes and bowed her head a brief instant, smiling at her late husband's memory. Then she acknowledged her son. "Well, I have to go. It's supposed to be a really well-preserved cave!"

"Now you be careful; don't let anything happen to you. I may be powerful, but there exists no magic in the known universe powerful enough to revive the dead," he warned her.

"It's okay, son!" she cheerfully cried, grasping the necklace her husband had given her as a gift. "Your dad's with me!" She set off out the door. He smiled at the thought of her actually being able to do something she wanted; the waiting on other people and endless work must have been taxing.

He gathered his belongings and prepared to go to his next assignment: a major tutorial of sixteen different potential students of magic. As Guru of Existence he had the task of preparing Earthbound young people for the placement test. So his very next stop he knew to be a school on the outskirts of the main island.

"Are we all prepared?" the question came from the exploration team leader. He waited for each person to give the needed answer, and then he lifted his clipboard and went over the regulations. "Now, people, we've practiced for the better part of a week. You all know the procedure. Things out of the ordinary probably will happen; when they do, no one tries anything stupid. Teamwork and trust are the key to survival. Those who fail to follow my instructions do so at their own peril. Understand?" Everyone nodded or said their answer. "Good. Now let's go!"

The group stepped into the cave, the team leader utilizing a luminescence spell to light the way. Jina took notice of each of the various rock patterns and textures, picking up rocks here and there that she thought to be pretty. Very few sounds other than their footsteps could be heard. The very air seemed still and lifeless. An ominous feeling lingered over the group as they continued on into the depths of the cavern. _Wow,_ Jina thought. _Something must've happened here. _Even someone without access to magic such as herself knew. _There had to have been a massive event; this whole place seems dead._

"We're coming up on a fork in the pathway," the team leader whispered, just loud enough for everyone to hear. "My main servant, Kota, will be taking the other half of you the other pathway. So everyone behind him go with him, and everyone with me go this way." The group split their numbers and went two separate pathways.

Crono, upon completing the class, scratched his chin as he sat on a bench inside the education building; he knew his father had given his mother her crystal necklace, but from where had he acquired it? He had to know; unfortunately, the information remained sealed in the classified documents section. The gurus had no access.

Dalton exited the classified documents section, carrying a file folder. "Ma'am," he instructed the receptionist, "other than the Queen, no one gets access to this room until I come back."

She nodded. "Understood."

_I have to find out more information about the Crucicus Battle, he thought to himself. That battle was the one... he couldn't complete the thought, as upon turning into an abandoned hallway, he collapsed from a sleeping spell cast by Crono. He quickly read the imposing bodyguard's thoughts and shape-shifted into him. Finding a janitor's closet he locked the bodyguard inside and sealed the door. He walked back towards the room._

"Mr. Dalton?" the receptionist exclaimed, surprised by his return. "Did you forget something?"

"There was one more thing I intended to look at," Crono explained carefully. "I don't want to have to make too many trips."

She let him in with the push of a button. "Go right ahead, sir."

He nodded. "Thank you." In the classified documents section, he looked around the large room. The shelves held folders upon folders of documents, and he used his divination spell to scan through them for the precise paper he wanted. _The Battle of the Valley of Crucicus_, Crono thought to himself. _That's the one where my father pulled off a tremendous military upset._

His spell signaled that he came across the folder. He opened the folder and hastily read the document using an information transcribe spell. He suddenly recoiled from the knowledge he'd just gained; his father's greatest military victory left a significant deal of questions opened. His mother's crystal necklace, he'd just learned that it came from the general of the enemy's side, but he didn't know where it had truly come from or what powers it possessed. All crystals had some degree of power, because they were like a sponge for magic, but he'd since been unable to figure it out.

"I'm done, thanks," he said, leaving the room after replacing the document. He then slid off to where he'd put Dalton, moved him out into the hallway, then altered his memories and revived him.

"M...Master Guru? Did I pass out?" Dalton looked around, slightly confused.

"Yes you did, Dalton. Well, I'll see you later." He walked off, making sure not to look suspicious.

"Weird," Dalton uttered to himself, shaking his head.

Crono walked on, knowing that the only other place for him to answer the questions he had about his father's power, was the cave he frequently sat in and meditated. So he went home and put on his coat. Then he went to the portal and went down to the Earth. He put his fingers on his right hand in a specific formation and moved his arm left, right, up, then in a diagonal pattern; from his fingertip emitted a light that shot in one direction. _This'll tell me where the cave is fro m here,_ he thought. _Gods, I pray for answers to my questions_. He trudged on.

The room at the end of the cave he sealed with a spell, then lit the candles in the chamber. He sat indian-style on the ground and cleared his thoughts. As soon as he put himself in the proper state, the chamber faded away, and he found himself alone in a massive field of black, surrounded by moving waves of light in all directions above him, and black void below him. This was the ethereal plane, and here one could find the answer to any of their questions if they knew how to find it.

_Show me the answers I seek,_ he thought out loud. He focused on what he'd learned from the document, and the void faded away, and he found his mind moving an avatar of his body around invisibly amongst a field of soldiers. He took in the sights as he moved undetectably amongst the soldiers fighting. _The Battle of the Valley of Crucicus. My father's greatest victory. I want to see the crystal._ He walked forward, slowing down the image with his mind, walking on until he came across a man who'd just struck a ranking general off his horse and began sword fighting with him. Crono noticed that the general was wearing the crystal. _Show me the effect of the crystal. I need to know._


End file.
